If It's All for Him, It Could All Be for Naught (Pt3)
by AndroidEvian
Summary: Akiza and Yusei escape the danger of their date and explain their story to the rest of the crew.


"Come on; I know a place with killer music scores." I walked with him through the city, pointing out stores we could visit after the music place he had been talking about. He laughed when I pointed out an animal store, saying Crow would have a fit if we brought a cat into the mansion. I giggled at the thought, and Yusei pulled me into a store three streets down and one to the right. It was a back alley place, a little door in the wall opening to a completely new world with flashing lights, and an inhuman melody playing over the speakers, two lovely voices singing together to the electric metal beat of a song Yusei seemed to know well.

"What is this song?!" I shouted excitedly over the beat.

"Electric Forest!" He replied. "I thought you listened to I See Stars!"

"I do," I said. "But only their darker stuff." He gave me the 'Really now, Akiza?' look, and I gave him a little teddy slap. Meaning a pat on the cheek.

"Come on, Akiza. There's more to see." Yusei lead me to the front of the store, a floor of crystal radiating a billion colors. They morphed into all sorts of spirals, floral patterns, and symbols I didn't even recognize, flashing all around. I couldn't help but start mosh dancing to Electric Forest as the fluorescent rainbows splashed color into that black room. Yusei only smiled wider as I did this, eyes glowing with pride over me. He joined in, looking just as ecstatic as I did, and soon many other people joined in collaboration. I even used my psionic powers to bend the lights into tangible glittering dust, running my hand through them with the most pleasurable sensation yet. Yusei looked at me, and I wrapped one of the sand lights around him, running it around his body and morphing it into an animal, dashing over his head and dying. I then heard clapping, and a familiar voice praising my little lightshow.

"Very good, Akiza… very good indeed." I turned, horrorstruck as I saw Sayer's face, immediately clinging to Yusei.

"You think your little boyfriend's going to save you, do you?" He scoffed, laughing cruelly. "You've become too attached to him, Akiza." Sayer said, stepping closer to us. "It's time for you to come back to the Arcadia Movement."

"NO!" I screamed, blasting him away with a psionic torrent. While he was down, Yusei grabbed my hand and ran with me out the front door, back into the crowded street. I could hear Sayer calling, "You can't run from me!" and saw him maybe 50 feet away at the edge of the music store. Yusei only ran faster, ducking behind a restaurant with me.

"Okay…"He said breathlessly. "I think we lost him." A psionic blast in front of us proved him wrong, Sayer grabbing me by the throat.

"Akiza, no!" Yusei shouted, lunging for Sayer, who flung him the other way with a flick of his wrist. Gripping Sayer's hand against my throat, I choked out,

"Go, Yusei. This is my problem I'll—" Sayer squeezed my throat tighter. "I'll handle it." Yusei ran out of sight.

"I told you he wouldn't stick around to protect you." He laughed softly.

"I don't need him to protect me!" I screamed, and forced a psychic spear into his eye, causing him to cry out with agony, holding a bloody left side of his face.

"Oh, Akiza… You're going to pay so dearly for that." I felt a claw drag itself down my back, distressingly sharp, but it was cut two seconds short by a loud CRACK! Kneeling down from the recovery of the pain, I was offered a hand and looked up to my rescuer.

"Yusei?" He smiled, his lip split and he was bleeding a bit from his eyebrow. I took his hand, examining the wounds.

"You're hurt…" I said, déjà vu to this morning's cut on his cheek.

"Not nearly as bad as Sayer is." He gestured to Sayer, a crumpled man on the ground.

"You didn't…" Yusei shook his head, knowing my next word.

"I just fractured his spine." I looked at him, impressed.

"Just fractured his spine?" I repeated, looking at him with mock disapproval.

"He won't be able to walk for a while, but once the doctors get his bones back in place he'll be alright." Still holding my hand, Yusei and I stepped away from the scene, walking to a coffee shop nearby. I ordered an orange peoke latte, and Yusei went with a hazelnut cappuccino. I stared into my beverage for a bit, waiting for it to cool off. Lost in a thought when Sayer and I were close, Yusei noticed my nostalgic expression, patting my hand with his.

"What's wrong?" He asked, staring at me with his navy ocean eyes.

"You could have died back there!" I cried, gripping his hand in mine.

"Could have died, but I didn't." Yusei pointed out, trying to calm me.

"Yusei, I don't want even the possibility to exist… If you had died back there…" I turned my face away, not wanting to think what would have happened to me, or Yusei before Sayer killed him. Yusei turned my face towards him with his thumb and index finger holding my chin in place to look into his eyes.

"Akiza. All that matters is that we're both safe. What happened then isn't what's happening now." I cast my eyes to the liquid of my beverage, still upset.

"I just wanted to be normal for once… To do normal things with a friend…"

"You're anything but normal, and that's just fine by me." Looking directly into his eyes, I felt his fresh breath grow closer to me, the smell of ginger ever present. He stroked my cheek gently, his warm scent getting ever stronger as he drew closer to me…and then his phone rang in his pocket.

"Hello?" He answered. "Yeah it's Yusei. You're what?" He almost yelled. "Jack are you nuts?!" Now curious, I peeked into Yusei's mind, picking up the processing thoughts of Jack's words. According to him, Jack was out buying a gift for Sherry LeBlanc, planning to make himself a mystery she needed to figure out. I had to admit; Jack was bloody insane if he thought Sherry would be interested in him when she figured him out. Yusei hung up the phone, saying he wouldn't know what to give a girl with a duel runner and an icy attitude towards most people.

"So?" I asked, pretending I didn't know anything.

"Jack's buying a necklace for Sherry, and he asked me which color Sherry would like better."

"What did you tell him?"

"I figured she'd like turquoise the best since she's a blonde, but he argued that didn't match her eyes."

"So he asked for your advice and automatically rejected it?" -_- I said flatly.

"That's Jack for you." Yusei replied, now beginning to drink from his hazelnut coffee. Trying to come up with a new topic, I took a sip of my own drink, enjoying its citrus cream flavor. I didn't have to think much longer, because a question was beginning to form in my mind as I sipped the coffee. I wondered how wise it would be to ask it, but I gambled the chance.

"Hey, Yusei?" He looked up curiously.

"Hm?"

"Back in Satellite, was there someone you wanted to be with?" I asked softly.

"You mean as a girlfriend?"

"Yeah." I clarified. Yusei pondered this for a minute or two and shrugged.

"Not really… Most girls in Satellite are either rotten to the core or really codependent."

"And you wanted someone who was independent?" I hoped I wasn't obvious.

"Well, yeah. In Satellite it was all about independence till you found people you could really trust."

"Could you elaborate for me?" I said, making a gesture with my hands as I took another sip of coffee.

"Back in Satellite there were a lot of duel gangs… they liked to pick on people with less experience, and steal their best cards at the end of the match. I met my friend Rally when I saw him tied upside down like a piñata, all the kids taking his rarest cards. So I dueled every single one of them, since Kalyn, Jack, and Crow were elsewhere, I decided to make friends with Rally, since he got picked on a lot." "So you and the other three were a gang too?" I asked. Yusei chortled a bit.

"A gang to stop all gangs if you wanna call it that. Our goal was to knock down all the gangs till we reached the top, and then we'd set up our own rules on Satellite." I giggled a bit at this, and Yusei asked what was so funny.

"You get on Jack for being "king" all the time. But it seems like you wanted to be king at this time also." I explained, controlling myself to force the rest of my laughter down. Yusei's face dawned with realization.

"You're right. I guess I'm kind of a hypocrite then, huh?" He said, blushing self-consciously.

"No. I can understand how you must have felt." I said, looking back on my own past of wishing I was on top of things.

"Really?" Yusei challenged, leaning forward over the table.

"I grew up with words like 'monster' 'witch' and 'freak' for a name. Kids shoved me into the dirt for being who I was." Yusei's eyes were sympathetic, since he had the same kind of treatment coming here from Satellite. Just how alike are we, Yusei? I wondered to myself, lost in his navy ocean eyes once again. He broke the gaze by staring at the time on his phone, a blush creeping into his cheeks.

"It's three forty-five now," He said, putting the phone in his jacket pocket. "We'd better get walking if we want to head somewhere else." I nodded, grabbing my drink and leaving my half of the payment on the table. I left a tip, just to be kind, and Yusei left his payment on the table as well. When we pushed open the doorway though, it was pouring rain.

…Yeah… probably better if we stay here… Yusei's thoughts were verbatim to mine, and we stepped back in, sitting by the fireplace this time with our drinks as the waitress collected our payment at the first table. Yusei waved her over, and I caught sight of her name tag, reading Nicole, as Yusei began asking for something to eat. He ordered a dish of chicken linguini and asked me if I wanted anything to eat. I refused politely, sending the Nicole off with Yusei's order.

"I never see you eat, Aki." Yusei stated, his voice having a hint of concern.

"I drink my nutrients." I said, hoping to pass off his unnecessary worry.

"Why?" Yusei asked, taking another sip of his coffee. "Don't you like the feeling of chewing something?"

"Not really… When I was a little girl, I was out at a restaurant with my parents, and I nearly choked on one of the dumplings. I've been terrified to eat ever since."

"That's terrible!" Yusei exclaimed, startling a couple people with his outburst. I shrugged, giving him the universal look for "What happens, happens."

"That's life." I told him casually, and the waitress walked over with Yusei's food. He stuck his fork into it, lifting a bit into his mouth. He chewed modestly, not something I'd expect from a Satellite boy, but I'd learned a lot of strange things about him. After swallowing the food, he eyed me, seeming to dare me to a staring contest while he ate.

"Is this a challenge you're making?" I said, eyes half shut slyly. He nodded, and so began the staring contest. I fidgeted my fingers to keep my eyes from twitching, as with ADHD you have to be doing something. Yusei just chewed and swallowed his food to keep himself distracted from the rising pain in his eyes. I kicked the wall beside me to vent some of the pain I was feeling in my eye, but knew I wasn't going to hold much longer. Yusei looked as though he could stare for ages, though I felt his endurance weakening. I then took a feisty move. Slowly, ever so slowly, I slid my foot up the hem of his jeaned right leg, and he almost flew backwards in his chair.

"Aha! You blinked!" I said victoriously, doing a little happy dance before sitting back down in my chair and taking a long and much needed shut of my eye.

"You cheater!" Yusei scolded playfully. "I would have made it if you hadn't started doing that weird thing with your baby soft foot."

"You never put any rules on it!" I argued "So all things that go are fair!" I leaned backwards in my chair, weak with laughter at his reaction. Being a sourpuss, he flicked a dirty napkin scrap at me, and I stopped it with a psychic barrier, not a second from the space between my eyebrows. I then shot it into Yusei's hair, producing a girly "Eww," from him. I laughed as he pulled it out, and when Nicole came around to collect Yusei's plate, it was covered in filthy napkin scraps. She'd tried to look disgusted, but I could tell she was amused. Nicole came back with a pen and receipt to sign. Yusei signed and paid, and told her we'd be staying a while. She smiled, telling him it was good to have some loiterers around for once.

"I could use a little company with my being the only one running this place." Nicole said.

"You're the only one here?" Yusei asked, sympathy in his voice.

"Yes. This was my parents' family business till they died last year in a fire." This girl was maybe 24. Her parents were probably no more than 45-50 when they died.

"That's pretty sad…" I commented idly, remembering my own experience with house fires.

"You know what they say; Pain is what makes us grow." She gave a slight laugh, seeming to be ever the optimist, or at least trying to stay positive.

"Well, anyway, it was great talking to you two, but I need to clean up a bit until someone else comes in. I lock up here at 7:45." Yusei and I nodded, just listening to the acoustic playlist overhead while staring into the crackling fire for the first few minutes. He then pulled out his deck, and we started a simple duel, no duel-disks, no duel-runners, just cards on a table. I started with Copy Plant and two facedowns, but Yusei saw right through that one and played "Black Hole" to annihilate my facedowns. I got him back though by destroying his hand with "Five Finger Void" and then doing the same to his monster by sacrificing Copy Plant for Rose Tentacle. He then drew a new hand, as "Five Finger Void" allowed on his turn, and summoned three Junkbots to the field with "Magnetism of the Junkyard", and sacrificed two of them to summon Stardust Dragon. Trying to attack my Rose Tentacle, I activated my face down, "Rose Barrage" to inflict half the damage back on him, in exchange for half my Rose Tentacle's attack points. I then sacrificed Rose Tentacle on my turn, along with a specially summoned Rose Token, and unleashed Black Rose Dragon to do battle with Yusei's Stardust Dragon. Black Rose Dragon wasn't as strong, but I used Rose Tentacle's dying ability to squeeze 500 attack points out of Stardust Dragon. I then attacked Yusei, and he had no facedown cards.

"Akiza… you won." I did…?

"I won?" I repeated, senseless with amazement.

"Yes you won!" Yusei lifted me by the waist, twirling me through the air.

"I won!" I screamed with him, looking into his navy ocean eyes ecstatically. It was like this for a good 30 seconds before we realized exactly what we were doing, causing us both to blush with embarrassment.

"So yeah… That was pretty awesome…" Yusei said, a nervous smile on his lips.

"Yeah… pretty cool." I agreed, not looking at him. Nicole walked over, breaking the tension between us.

"Do you two need an umbrella or something? Cause it's already five o'clock and I have a spare." I nodded, thanking her sincerely. She handed me the umbrella and told us to come back soon. I promised we would, as she was a great hostess and manager, friendly and true. Yusei then opened the door for me, and I walked out, extending the waterproof surface to the sky and Yusei joined me underneath it.

"You want me to hold that instead?" He offered. "I am the taller one here." I sighed and let him have it, him and his constant chivalry. It wasn't bothering me, I just wondered why he was doing it. I was nobody special. As we'd both said before, we were only friends. I remember Sayer had called him "my little boyfriend". Yusei hadn't rejected the title, but I suppose it hadn't mattered to him in that situation. I walked beside him in the rain, following his lead. It was quiet, fresh in the rainy evening, and very much alive with the sky watering the parched plants. I stopped Yusei a moment, seeing a withered old beauty of a rose. I looked at it, sorry for how ephemeral its glory had been. I caressed the poor thing in my fingers, and gave it a moment of silence. I then heard a gasp from Yusei, seeing his mouth drop open.

I looked at the rose and saw it coming back to life, its petals painting themselves in a perfect blood red. Watching it, stunned as it repaired itself, I then stared at my hand. There was nothing strange or out of place about it. No qualities of restoring life lay in this palm, and yet I'd just brought a dying rose back to health.

"Akiza, that was… amazing." The clouds began to clear, and the sun shone through, although the rain didn't retreat. It shone over the closed bud of the rose, sparkling on the water droplets covering its coat. The rose then bloomed open.

"Let's go home, okay Yusei?" I said, looking up at him. He nodded, still blank with the incredible thing I had just done. I hoped he'd forget it by next morning. We made it back to the mansion about 6:15, Luna and Leo bombarding us with questions about our "date". I was tempted to just call it an outing, but I saw Yusei speaking fervently to Leo, using the d word. I explained my half of the date with Luna, who seemed very pleased I was using that word to describe the time we'd spent together. She was especially excited when I told her Sayer showed up, and how Yusei "punched his lights out". I didn't tell her the truth because I couldn't worry her. She was 12 years old. Too young, far too young, to hear her "big sister" was nearly killed on a date. And she especially wouldn't be able to handle it if she heard Yusei nearly died as well. So after explaining all the details of the stores we visited and how I finally won a duel against Yusei, Luna retired to her room, complaining of a headache and lethargy.

Leo walked after her, asking what was wrong, but she shrugged him off, just saying she was suddenly tired. Yusei put his hand on Leo's shoulder, telling him not to worry. Luna was young, and being so young, her Signer powers were draining a bit of her energy. It was 6:30, and time for dinner. Luna didn't even want to touch her food, and drifted off to sleep. Yusei and I offered her dinner to Leo, and I noticed Jack wasn't present. Where could he be?


End file.
